Editorial: A Salute To Somaliland, Africa's First ‎Homegrown Democracy

To be in Africa is to live in turmoil. It is a continent known to be short of peace, stability and respect for the rule of law. But Somaliland, Africa's Best Kept Secret as described by Dr. Iqbal Jhazbhay, a South African academic, has broken the rules in an unprecedented way. It is peaceful, where war is the norm; stable where chaos prevails; democratic where tyranny rules; has safe seas in a region where piracy caused international alarm on marine terrorism, and self-helping where reliance on foreign aid made the local economies stagnant. Maintaining peace and stability for 15 years and establishing a unique system of state based on African-western amalgam of democracy is an admirable achievement that can hardly be ignored.

Somaliland has fulfilled every single condition in the book of statehood. It possesses the requirements set up by the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States and signed by American states including the United States in 1933 such as permanent population; a defined territory; a government; and the capacity to enter into relations with the other states. Somaliland’s lack of the last requirement, however, cannot negate its de facto statehood as the Montevideo Convention itself declares, "the political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states."

The reclaiming of Somaliland's sovereignty has come by the will of the people. The masses have not only expressed this through the ballot boxes but have paid their dues for independence in blood. No matter how loud anti-Somaliland forces talk, how much ink they spill on paper and how much hatred they splash on the world's online journals, they will not manage to move an iota of the Somaliland people's rightful and determined quest for recognition. It is quite ludicrous also and starkly absurd to blame academics like I.M. Lewis, Iqbal Jhazbhay and Matt Bryden on pushing for Somalia's dismemberment. These gentlemen are political observers who feel the nations' pulse and record the reading for history. It is their academic obligation to say whether a nation is experiencing a healthy political atmosphere or heading to a looming disaster. What they say is Somaliland is healthy and Somalia has a chronic disease of warlordism, bitter tribal rivalry and rising extremist Islamism, undeniable facts on the ground. Well, the critics may have to also curse the divine for the stupidity of their leaders, one may rightly argue.

No one claims that the road is laid with roses. The people of Somaliland are very much aware of the harsh and difficult political terrain that they have to overcome but they are also sure that there is only one road for them to achieve development and prosperity and pass down a secured future to their children; it is the road of independence. To go back to the defunct union with Somalia is to throw themselves from a precipice, the surest way to commit suicide. One should realize, therefore, that the fate of Somaliland and the course it will take in the future depend on the wish of the widowed fathers and mothers, the orphaned children, the wise elders, the generations of young men and women who lost their property and their prime youth in building Mogadishu and empowering the people of the south while their best boarding schools were turned into military barracks, their ports abandoned, their traders impoverished, their elders humiliated, their clan relationships destroyed, their towns razed to the ground and their identity as a nation expunged.

These people have spoken once, twice and thrice and they are ready to speak up even louder and louder until they achieve their goals, an international recognition for their homeland. They know as their president has said in a recent statement that recognition is not given as a gift, nations have to earn it. Yes, they are fully aware of this and they are ready to do whatever it takes not only to maintain what they have achieved so far but also to make Somaliland a viable and prosperous state that enjoys mutual recognition and respect with its neighbors, most importantly with Somalia.

Today, as Somaliland celebrates the 15th anniversary of the day it reclaimed its sovereignty on 18th May 1991, it enters a mature phase of its democratic process where the President and his party have to strike a harmony with a lower house dominated by opposition parties. This, as expected of any democratic country, has raised a lot of noise. The political temperature will also heat up as the presidential elections in early 2008 draw nearer. The voice of the opposition will grow louder and louder, accusations and counter accusations will be leveled, Somaliland's burgeoning free press will have a field day, political opportunists will try to evoke the live wires of tribalism, but once the moment of truth comes and people cast their vote, all the commotion will subside and Somaliland will move ahead to cover other milestones of its torturous journey to consolidate the foundations of Africa's first homegrown democracy.

So we say to unionists, spare your ink and your energy for heavens sake and work towards bringing peace and stability to your own home, Somalia. There is nothing that will give us pleasure than seeing our sisterly country living in peace with itself and with its neighbors. Give a respite to the tired mothers, elderly and children to take their breath and rebuild their homes and their lives. Let us be proud of you at least once in our lifetime and hope for a day that we may be able to talk to each other as equal partners and workout a relationship of sorts.

Source: ANN, May 18, 2006

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